Howe-Mannicott Award Contenders

The American Library Association will be announcing the much anticipated winners of the ALA Youth Media Awards on Monday, February 2nd.  These prestigious awards include the Randolph Caldecott Medal awarded to an American illustrator of a children's picture book with the "most distinguished" illustrations.

The Howe-Manning will participate in a Mock Caldecott event by which students will examine a variety of picture books published in 2014.  Students will rate the books based on various criteria and will then vote for the picture book they feel is most deserving of the Howe-Mannicott Award!

Click on the links below to view book trailers for some of the contenders!

FLASHLIGHT By Lizi Boyd - Animated Trailer

IVAN Book Trailer -- The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla

 

BEEKLE

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett






 

Quest by Aaron Becker Book Trailer

FLORA AND THE PENGUIN By Molly Idle - Animated Trailer

 Little Elliot Big City by Mike Curato

Shark Attacks Seal—Time Lapse Drawing Video—NEIGHBORHOOD SHARKS

Louise Loves Art Book Trailer

Baby Bear by Kadir Nelson

Holiday Scholastic Book Fair

 Thank you for supporting the library with your Scholastic Book Fair purchases!  A very special thank you goes out to the parent volunteers who helped to make this event a great success!

  

Database of the Month: Trueflix by Scholastic

TrueFlix is an online collection of over 80 nonfiction e-books that focuses on engaging subject-area content in science and social studies for students spanning grades 3-6. Each of the TrueFlix subject areas leverages the award-winning True Books content to help students hone literacy skills, build knowledge of subject-area content, and cultivate 21^st Century skills through the inquiry process. Embedded videos, images, and additional web resources and activities assist beginning researchers to plan, manage, and complete projects and assignments.  The books also include an optional read-aloud feature!  The TrueFlix database offers simultaneous 24-7 access and can be accessed anywhere from home or school!

You may access the TrueFlix database from a few places:

• Click on the Links Tab on The Library Catalog
• Click on Online Databases from my School Specialist Webpage
• Click on the Online Databases Tab at the top of this blog!

Please contact Mrs. Reusch for Username and Password information.

Database of the Month: Britannica School

Britannica School (Encyclopedia Britannica) offers students a safe place to conduct research using thousands of searchable encyclopedia and journal articles, images, videos, audios, primary sources with curriculum relevance, detailed maps, editor-recommended websites, learning games, a world atlas, and a wealth of how-to research tools.

The database supports differentiated learning with three user-friendly interfaces - elementary, middle, or high school -  and makes it easy to select the portal which best suits each student's reading, grade and age level.

Britannica School is offered to Massachusetts Library System member libraries through state and federal funding and may be accessed on my specialist website or from the library catalog by clicking on the links tab. Students do NOT need a username or password to access!

Learning About Biographies

Third graders continue to learn about library organization. This week we learned about how the biography section is arranged. We also talked about elements of the biography genre and read a book about Benjamin Franklin. Each student had to recall information from the text by recording two facts about this extremely colorful character in history! This activity also helped to build excitement about the upcoming visit by Ben Franklin at the end of the week!

Facts About Benjamin Franklin Written By Third Graders

Database of the Month: Country Reports and Country Reports United States Edition

Country Reports is a database that contains over 35,000 pages of current information on the cultures and countries of the world. Online content includes information and statistics about the country’s demographics, history, geography, economy, food, fashion, family life, student life, religion, sports and recreation and more!  The database also enables students to compare multiple countries based upon selected data categories.   

This database is used extensively by 6^th grade students in their study of world cultures. Fourth graders may utilize the United States edition of the database in their study of the United States.

The Country Reports database may be accessed from the Howe-Manning Library Catalog and then by clicking on the Links tab at the top of the page OR at www.countryreports.org.

 Please contact Mrs. Reusch for Username and Password information.

Learn about Countries of the World

Sixth Grade Global Book Mark Exchange

Sixth graders are participating in the Book Marks Our World program; a global book mark exchange initiated by Margriet Ruurs, author of My Librarian is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World. Students will be creating book marks to represent their favorite books. We will be exchanging book marks with other 6th grade students from The Valleys Senior Public School in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. This program connects to the 6th grade study of world cultures and is also a fun way for students to connect with readers from other countries!

A Howe-Manning Book Tasting

Third and fourth graders recently participated in a "book tasting" event to sample different books to see if they were to their liking.  Students were treated to a "fiction feast" and practiced a process for choosing "good fit" or "just right" books.  Students sampled books to determine whether they met their interest, comprehension, and fluency levels and had a great time in the process. Tables were set with red and white checkered tablecloths and books were served "family style" in bowls placed at each table.  Students filled out menus to answer questions about the books that they sampled and were also allowed to "take out" any books that they wished to devour!  Students really enjoyed this event.  We will plan on having more book tastings so that students may sample books from other genres!  Please visit the following websites for more information about choosing just right books:

Reading Rockets

Scholastic





2014-2015 Massachusetts Chidlren's Book Award

I am so delighted that Howe-Manning students in grades 4, 5, and 6 will once again participate in the Massachusetts Children's Book Award (MCBA) reading incentive program.  Many studies have found that there is a decline in recreational reading at the upper elementary levels. Salem State University designed this state-wide program with the purpose of reigniting an enthusiasm for reading in students who fall in this age bracket.

Every spring, a master list of 25 AWESOME books is nominated by a selection committee of teachers, librarians, and publishers. Students must read 5 books from the list throughout the school year.  They will then have the opportunity to vote for their favorite.  The ballots are tallied and sent to Salem State University.  The MCBA winner will be announced in the Spring and will coincide with other great library events such as Read Across America, the Great Howe-Manning Book Swap, and the Scholastic Book Fair.
 
To create even MORE excitement, we will be hosting an MCBA raffle whereby students who read a book from the list and fill out a reader response activity sheet will earn a raffle ticket to win some great prizes!
 

The Howe-Manning Library, as well as the Flint Public Library, have multiple copies of each title on the list. 

Click on the following link to access the 2014-2015 MCBA Master List

2014-2015 MCBA Master List of Nominees

Howe-Manning Students Are Reading Like CRAZY!

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer!  The library is off to an incredible start!  Students have expressed a huge enthusiasm for reading and learning new things...and the numbers show it!  Howe-Manning students have checked out an astounding 1,144 books to date!  Circulation is up by over 100 books compared to last year! A heartfelt thank you to all of the parent library volunteers who have helped place books in our students' hands! I am looking forward to a great year!

ALA Announces Children's Literary Award Winners!

The American Library Association recently announced the winners of the Caldecott, Newbery, and Sibert Awards for 2014.

The winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children went to Locomotive by Brian Floca.  The John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature was awarded to Flora & Ulysses:  The Illuminated Adventures written by Kate DiCamillo.  The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children was awarded to Parrots over Puerto Rico written by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore, and illustrated by Susan L. Roth.   Visit the ALSC website for a complete list of book and media awards!

2014 Caldecott Medal Winner

2014 Newbery Medal Winner

2014 Sibert Medal Winner

Announcing The Howe-Mannicott Medal Winners

The third graders chose Mr. Wuffles by David Wiesner to be the winner of the very prestigious Howe-Mannicott Award.  Fourth graders chose Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown.  We anxiously await the announcement of the Caldecott winner on Monday, January 27th!

Third Grade Howe-Mannicott Winner

Fourth Grade Howe-Mannicott Winner

The Howe-Mannicott Award

The Caldecott Medal is awarded every year for the picture book with the "most distinguished" illustrations.  This year's Caldecott winner will be announced on Monday, January 27th.  What better time for students in grades 3 and 4 to make predictions and participate in our own Mock Caldecott appropriately named "The Howe-Mannicott."  Students eagerly examined picture books  published in 2013, and rated the books based on certain criteria.  Here are a few of our nominees!

 

Lots of Wordless Books!

Including some great biographies:

Some others:

MCBA Bulletin Board

Here they are!  This bulletin board, which stands right outside the library, displays the book covers of the 25 nominated titles to win the Massachusetts Children's Book Award.  Students in grades 4-6 have been reading many of the titles and have been participating in our MCBA raffle drawing.  We will be casting our ballots and sending the Howe-Manning results to Salem State University by the March 14th deadline.  Results from all Massachusetts participating schools will be tallied and the winner of the MCBA will be announced on Monday, March 31!  Students cannot wait to hear which book wins!